An Odyssey of Mediocrity

 
  For decades the Celtics and it's fan base have prided themselves on not settling for anything less than a championship. The older generation of Celtics fans are not content with just playing .500 basketball they grew up watching Bird's Celtics dominate the 80s era while these younger generation of fans(like myself) grew up watching Pierce,Antoine Walker and Ricky Davis(Couldn't leave him out). So it only seems natural for a generation who's only witnessed one Celtics championship team to be content with watching Mediocre basketball.
    For me I just like watching NBA basketball but not enough that I enjoy watching my favorite team spiral towards the abyss of mediocrity or even worse, the Lottery. These are no longer the 2008 Celtics ripping off 8-10 game win streaks, playing lockdown defense and winning crucial road games. These are the 2012-13 Celtics, the team that relies on consistent contributions from guys like Jeff Green, Courtney Lee and yes even Jason Collins. Defensively this team is a far cry from the 2008-12 teams. This is a team that needs 40 points from Paul Pierce just to beat a team who is 5-22 by 12 and what's even more surprising is that people seem perfectly content with being just "ok".
     One of the infuriating comments that I come across from time to time is people using the "The Celtics were 15-17 last year and got to the ECF" excuse. Last year's improbable Conference Finals run was a little bit of Fools gold. They lucked out on not having to face the Bulls with a healthy Derrick Rose. Also this year the Atlantic Division is very much improved with the prospect of the Celtics being possibly the 3rd best team in the division after having a string of 5 straight division titles. In my mind excuses are a sign of weakness and lack of strength. Fans(mostly on twitter) seem to be be perfectly fine making excuses for this team and are continually lying to themselves.
      I love the Celtics and I love basketball but I can't keep lying to myself that everything will be okay with this team if we keep it as it is. While I would love to wait for Avery to return as I have stated his importance to the defense in a previous article, I just dont know how much longer the celtics can afford to play like this without making a roster move. There may be no clear cut way to fix this team right now and I'm fine with that  but I'd still like Danny to try and see what's out on the open market.
  This Celtics team is teetering on the side of being a Lottery team. They dont get consistent contributions outside of the Big 3. The bench scoring is erratic at best and their defensive effort is sometimes nonexistent. Those are all the qualities of a mediocre basketball team. Some may say I'm not being a real fan by criticizing them this much but at least I'm being honest with myself.

Trouble in Los Angeles

    A team synonymous with winning finds itself in a very unfamiliar and peculiar situation right now. After suffering their 3rd straight loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers the Lakers now find themselves sitting at 9-13(Their worst start since 2002-2003). The Lakers were supposed to be a juggernaut and roll through opponents.Injuries,coaching changes and defense have inhibited this team from really fulfilling its true potential.
    One of the truly strange things going on with this team is that Kobe Bryant, someone who has been maligned for poor shot selection, is having one of his most efficient seasons of his career. Kobe is averaging 29.2 points on 48% shooting(A career high). As it stands right now the Lakers offense is far from the problem. Their offensive efficiency(Points scored per 100 possessions) ranks just outside the top 5 at 106.4. However their defense has not performed as well, especially in transition. Right now the Lakers are ranked dead last in Fast Break defense giving up about 16 points a game.
     Defensively everyone expected Dwight Howard to make up for the deficiencies of the lesser talented perimeter defenders that the Lakers have like he did in Orlando but so far that has not been the case. According to 82games.com the Lakers rank 27th in the PER difference between their starting point guard and opposing point guards. They also rank 25th in point guard defense and are dead last in point guard scoring. So not only are they getting no offense from the point guard position right they also aren't getting any defense. Now getting Nash back healthy may help them in the scoring department but I really dont see how a 38 year old coming off of a broken can really solve their perimeter defensive struggles.
    Structurally the Lakers are one of the leagues most imbalanced teams. They feature a bench that most D1 college teams would laugh at. Their point guard rotation without Nash is almost laughable. When you have Chris Duhon and Darius Morris playing major minutes for you you're going to experience some struggles.
      We all knew that this team was going to take some time to come together and really play at its full potential but I dont think anyone predicted that they would be this bad. Even Kobe voiced his frustration with his team while doing post game interviews.
 

It's still very early in the season and we still haven't really seen this team at full strength but whether it's making a few lineup changes, making a trade or just increasing the effort level the Lakers have to do something quick before they fall into a hole they can't climb out of.

The NBA: Where You Get Fined for Resting Players

      David Stern, like most professional sports commissioners has always been the center of controversy in the NBA. Whether it's accusations of rigging the NBA Draft Lottery, NBA Refs rigging games or vetoing trades for "basketball reasons" the man just can't escape it. Now he's at again and for once I think he's outdone himself. On Thursday night the Spurs were playing their 4th game in 5 nights and Gregg Popovich decided to give 4 of his stars(Parker,Ginobli,Green and Duncan) a night off as they have a big divisional game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday. Well this game just happened to be a marquee nationally televised game vs the defending champion Miami Heat. Surprisingly enough the game ended up being pretty exciting as the Heat only won by 5 points.
     The reaction to this lineup change was very surprising to me as people were acting as if Pop just started doing this or if teams have never done it before. Last year while riding a 11 game win streak Pop did the exact same thing and I didn't hear one peep from anyone about it. The only reason anyone is talking about or why I'm even writing about it is because it was a National TV game against the Heat. Yesterday the NBA released a statement saying that the Spurs have been fined $250,000. David Stern said that what Pop did was "a disservice to the fans". You know what's a "disservice to the fans" Stern, the lockout that made me miss precious games of basketball. I'm pretty sure the fans that went to last nights game were not disappointed one bit with the game they saw. I understand the fact that the NBA is a business and that TNT pays a lot of money to televise big games but you also have to understand that Gregg Popovich is a Head Coach not a GM or an Owner. His #1 job is to put his team in the best position to win a championship not a meaningless game in November.
    I'm very intrigued to see how Stern or Silver when he takes over handles this in the future. Is he going to fine teams in April who have already locked playoff spots for resting players on Nationally Televised games? Is he going to try and crack down on tanking which is essentially the same thing? Just last year the Golden State Warriors blatantly tanked in front of our very eyes. Tanking is something that happens in every sport and something that can't be definitively proven.
    Gregg Popovich is the epitome of a "rebel" in the NBA. He comes off like a jerk and he really doesn't care what you think. He's gonna do things his way and judging by his 4 championship rings his way works pretty well.

A Streak Worthy of Praise,Rajon Rondo is Making History

    Taken 21st in the 2006 NBA Draft Rajon Rondo has more than exceeded expectations, he's shattered them. Blessed with great court vision and an insatiable need to make others better Rajon Rondo has inserted himself in a conversation where he's being talked about alongside Magic Johnson and John Stockton. For the past 37 games Rondo has had 10+ assists in each of them which has tied him with John Stockton for 2nd on the all time record list with Magic Johnson's record of 46 in sight.

  
Over his career Rondo has been known to unpredictable, moody and known to take some games off but this streak has shown us that he's capable of playing at high level consistently. Right now Rondo is averaging 13.7 assists per game which is 4 more than Chris Paul who sits in 2nd place.
  While some people(me) have criticized Rondo for going assists instead of being aggressive or "stat padding" you can't help but marvel at what he's doing right now. To be able to garner such gaudy assist numbers in 37 straight games is incredible. Right now instead of analyzing and dissecting this streak we should just appreciate it because you never know when it might end.

What's wrong with the Celtics Defense?

   Ever since Kevin Garnett stepped on the Parquet Floor the Boston Celtics have been know for their suffocating defense. They were a juggernaut that forced teams into unfamiliar situations. They hounded players on the perimeter and made them fear venturing into the paint with guys like Kendrick Perkins controlling the middle. Now they're a small team that is struggling guarding Pick & Rolls,Protecting the rim and 3 point shots which are all necessities to being a great defensive team. Right now the Celtics are 19th in Points Allowed per game(99.3), 27th in Opponents FG%(.463), and 23rd in Opponent 3pt FG%(.368) which are all team lows since the "Big Three" Era began in 2007-08.
   Right now it just seems as if the Celtics dont have the personnel to be a great defensive team. They don't have the size necessary to challenge opponents at the rim or near the basket. According to HoopData.com the Cetlics 5th worst defensive team at the rim with opponents shooting 67.7% and they're the 3rd worst defensive team at 3-9 feet with opponents shooting 45.9%. I think we all knew going in that this team was going to have trouble defending the rim since they primarily play very small lineups with Kevin Garnett being really the only legit 7 footer in the rotation. Now there is still some reason to have hope with defensive ace Avery Bradley scheduled to make his return sometime in mid December. Last year according to 82games.com 4 of the top 5 lineups which featured Avery Bradley gave up less than a point per possesion. Avery's defensive is so important to this teams success. His ability to pressure the ball in the backcourt and take precious seconds off of the shot clock is so invaluable to this team.
   Maybe this season's defensive struggles can attributed to the lack of chemistry between new guys or that it still is missing one of it's premier defenders, whatever it is it needs to be fixed. If this team is going to compete for a championship the defense needs to return to it's former glory.

Rapid Reaction Celtics beat Jazz 98-93

The Celtics have improved to 5-3 after a win against the Utah Jazz. In what proved to be a very hard fought physical game the Celtics came out on top despite an ankle injury to star Point Guard Rajon Rondo. The bench was huge scoring 47 points. Jeff Green and Leandro Barbosa each scored 16 points off. So far this season Leandro Barbosa has proved to be a great signing by Danny Ainge as in multiple games he's provided a great spark off the bench and he's been able to really give Rondo some much needed rest.
  Player(s) of the Game:In most cases I will only do one player of the game but tonight since both Jeff Green and Barbosa played so well they both earned it tonight. After begging Jeff to be more aggressive he has finally heard my pleas. Early in the 4th Green drove to the basket and was able to dunk right over Al Jefferson, he also showed off some very nice post moves which is where I really want to see him operate more. Leandro came in and was an instant spark plug his scoring was especially needed when Rondo left the game in the 3rd with an ankle injury.
  Game Deciding Factor(s):For the first time all season I finally feel comfortable with the Celtics bench. They were able to come in and really give the Celtics some very solid minutes.
  Unsung Hero of the Game:Chris Wilcox. Ever since Doc has put Wilcox back in the rotation he's made this bench so much better. His ability to run the floor and finish at the rim has been so pivotal to this teams success as of late.I expect him to be in the contention for "Tommy Awards" every night.

Play of the Game:Jeff Green Posterizes Al Jefferson

Well there are still some things the Celtics need to work on (defensive rebounding) but right now I am very pleased with their play so far. Next game is tomorrow night against the Brooklyn Nets

So much for the Zen Master,Mike D'antoni Hired as new Lakers Head Coach

The "Weekend With Bernie" era is officially over! Well not really, Interim Head Coach Bernie Bickerstaff is still scheduled to coach a few more games as New Head Coach Mike D'antoni recovers from knee replacement surgery. The deal is reportedly worth 4 years with $12 Million guaranteed. The Lakers surprised everyone(even me) by hiring D'antoni over Phil Jackson. D'antoni was the architect of the "7 seconds or less" Phoenix Suns offense which was one of the greatest offenses of all time.
   The general consensus of opinions on the D'antoni hire were mostly negative and surprised. Many felt that when you have the opportunity to bring one of the greatest coaches of all time on your team you do it. It was especially surprising considering Magic Johnson's "win no matter how much it costs" attitude. Maybe the Buss family felt that Phil Jackson's travel and front office decision demands were too much, maybe it was money related(Phil was asking for around $10-15 million per year) or maybe Jim Buss just plain doesn't like Phil.For some reason the Lakers felt that D'antoni's Pick & Roll based offense was better suited for this team rather than the Triangle which is very similar to the Princeton.

     Many people are under the assumption that D'antoni is an awful defensive coach. While he certainly isn't a elite defensive coach I think most people get lost in the traditional Points Allowed per game stat.For example in 2006-07 the Phoenix Suns were in the bottom 10 in terms of points allowed per game(102.9) but their Defensive Efficiency was only 89.4 which was good for 16th in the league. All I'm trying to say is that points per game & points allowed per game are very decieving when talking about a team that had as many posessions as the D'antoni Suns(3rd in Pace).What people also forget to mention is during his Phoenix days the anchor of his defense was Amare Stoudemire and now he has the greatest defensive player of his generation(Dwight Howard) under his command.
     Now lets get to how D'antoni fits with the Lakers. At first glance you see the potential for a deadly offense led by an even deadlier Nash-Howard P&R combination. But the elite offensive Phoenix teams had deadly 3pt  shooters something that this Lakers team doesn't. Guys like Boris Diaw,Raja Bell and Shawn Marion all commanded respect from the 3pt line. D'antoni will have to find a way to find a rotation that spreads the floor while also putting out he best lineup on the floor. Guys like Jodie Meeks and Antawn Jamison will play even bigger roles now than they did under Mike Brown. Now the success of this offense depends on a 38 year old who right now has a semi fracture in his leg.That's pretty dicey if you ask me.For the time being Chris duhon will be running the offense(Pretty funny right?).Even though there are plenty of questions surrounding this team it also has an enormous ceiling.Hopefully(for Laker fans) D'antoni can prove that he's better for the job then the "Zen Master".